Kyle Busch back-pedals

yle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Toyota, stands in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 5, 2012 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Four days after excoriating his engine provider, Kyle Busch issued an apology, effectively reminding everyone of his profane tirade after last Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover.

Busch led 302 of the 400 laps, but an inconvenient caution late in the race — from Busch’s standpoint — made fuel mileage an issue. Unable to run the final 89 laps on one tank of gas, Busch had to pit from the lead with 10 laps left.

The fuel situation proved to be a boon to race winner Brad Keselowski, who ran the final 89 laps without having to stop. On his team radio, Busch bashed Toyota Racing Development, which provides the engines for his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, for the lack of fuel economy.

“I made some remarks out of frustration on my radio at the end of last weekend’s race in Dover that were very misguided,” Busch said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. “I owe my friends at Toyota and TRD an apology. We have a great partnership with TRD and they built me a motor that helped me lead over 300 laps and nearly lap the field.

“It’s just frustrating that the caution fell where it did and suddenly it became a fuel mileage race and we were set up for maximum horsepower. Obviously, that worked well for most of the day and you can’t control when the cautions will fall. I think we have a great partnership with TRD and we will continue to communicate with them on what our team is looking for. I’m looking forward to getting down to Talladega this weekend and focusing on the race.”

The timing of the apology was somewhat strange, in that it revived an issue that had begun to fade. And if drivers had to apologize for everything said in the heat of the moment on team radios, there would be little time to write about anything else.